Thread by @afainatl

WOW

One of the closest political associates & "BFF" of Johsie Cruz, the @GaRepublicans candidate for Congress in #GA04, is Rommys Beltran.

Beltran is currently facing charges of child cruelty, theft, insurance fraud & more over a Youth Academy she operated in Alpharetta. #gapol

Beltran's Alternative Youth Academy (AKA "Advancing Youth's Academy") was founded 2010.

A 2011 article discussed AYA, where teens with alleged discipline or substance abuse issues were sent.

"Dr. Rommys Chad" (Beltran) compared AYA's approach to jail.
northfulton.com/archives/schoo…

The article mentioned another AYA instructor, "Capt. Mike Guerrero", and stated that Rommys Chad (Beltran) used to work with him in "Cobb law enforcement".

Rommys Beltran, on her current "MAGA Beltran" Facebook page, posted old pictures of herself as a cop. This one says 2006.

Michael Guerrero is currently the Emergency Management Coordinator for Kennesaw State University's Marietta campus.

Rommys Beltran seems to have earlier worked as cop with Southern Polytechnic State University's Police Force. SPSU ended up merging into the Kennesaw State system.

Beltran's academy lost its accreditation in Sept. 2014.

In Aug. 2015, GBI & Roswell Police raided AYA. The school finally closed.

In 2016, Beltran was charged with insurance fraud, theft, practicing psychology without a license & tampering with evidence.
ajc.com/news/local/ful…

In this online record, "Dr." Beltran stated that she got her PhD in "Forensic Psychology" from "Alpha University".

This explains why Rommys Beltran was not licensed to practice psychology by the state of Georgia.

In Aug. 2019, Beltran was indicted on more charges including cruelty to children. Four AYA workers were also indicted.

Accounts of abuse at AYA sound awful.

According to one worker, Beltran started the academy because she "wanted her own police precinct"
ajc.com/news/local/abu…

Rommys Beltran allegedly threatened to report undocumented immigrants who made complaints about what was going on at her Alternative Youth Academy.
univision.com/local/atlanta-…

In recent years, Beltran has become highly politically active.

Beltran was quoted by NPR in a May 2017 piece, which placed Beltran and Johsira Ezammudeen (Cruz) at a campaign field office opening for Karen Handel, who won the vacated #GA06 seat that year.

https://twitter.com/nprpolitics/status/866652824482000896

(Handel lost the 2018 election for a full term and is running again this year in #GA06.)

In November 2017, Rommys Beltran hosted a national "Latinos for Trump" summit in Atlanta.

This pic from the gathering includes Beltran, Johsie Cruz, Cat Fletcher of RACI (Red Alternativa Capitalista de Información) and national Latinos for Trump co-founder Marco Gutierrez.

Here's a video clip of Rommys Beltran stating that the nationwide Board of Directors for Latinos for Trump was organized at this Atlanta summit.

Beltran states that she paid for and organized the 2017 summit, along with "a few other Republicans of Georgia".

After the summit, Beltran was announced as the first secretary for Latinos for Trump nationally.

Latinos for Trump, with Johsie Cruz and Rommys Beltran as representatives, endorsed the 2018 gubernatorial campaign of Michael Williams in Georgia.

Williams tried to win the Republican nomination for Governor with tactics such as a racist "Deportation Bus" tour around Georgia.

For those who don't recall, here's what eventually happened to Michael Williams.
ajc.com/blog/politics/…

Latinos for Trump of Georgia was officially registered in Oct 2018.

A 2019 filing lists Rommys Beltran as CEO and Johsie Cruz as secretary & CFO.

LFT of GA did not file this year, maybe because the Trump campaign launched its own LFT in 2019, or due to Beltran's legal problems.

Johsie Cruz now lists her involvement with Latinos for Trump of Georgia as part of her political experience on her campaign website, though she dates this involvement as early as the 2016 presidential election.

Rommys Beltran has also helped "Red Alternativa Capitalista de Información" (RACI) an anticommunist group led by Cat Fletcher of Georgia.

Beltran is one of RACI's Facebook administrators.

Johsie Cruz's campaign website lists Cruz as RACI's acting Vice President.

#JohsieCruzForCongress #ga04 #gapol

At some stage over the last few years, Rommys Beltran started calling herself "MAGA Beltran".

Johsie Cruz frequently posts about Beltran on her social media.

"MAGA Beltran" in turn promotes Johsie Cruz's #GA04 campaign. #JohsieCruzForCongress #gapol

As we have documented, Johsie Cruz now supports and is endorsed by American Patriots USA.

APUSA is a far-Right group headed by longtime white supremacist Chester Doles. (Doles believes alliances with far-Right people of color are tactically advantageous.)

https://twitter.com/afainatl/status/1261281560415948801

Beltran promoted and attended American Patriots USA's event this July 4, which partially benefited Johsie Cruz's campaign in #GA04.

#AmericanPatriotsUSA #RommysBeltran

Rommys Beltran is promoting the August 15th rally at Stone Mountain outside Atlanta, which Chester Doles' "American Patriots USA" is mobilizing for.

https://twitter.com/afainatl/status/1284365699734020097

Meanwhile, Beltran is facing a maximum sentence of 29 years over her charges.

In October, her lawyer withdrew since he is being called as a witness by the prosecution. Beltran may have removed evidence from AYA to her lawyer’s office before the raid.

telemundoatlanta.com/noticias/rommy…

Interestingly, Beltran has recently tagged this lawyer, Samuel Johnson, in pictures on her social media.

Rommys Beltran also seems to have done a promotional radio show for Johnson earlier this year.

Rommys Beltran has a couple of other noteworthy political links.

Her “MAGA Beltran” Facebook profile image includes the symbol of the III%, a decentralized far-Right militia movement. Beltran regularly shares militia content.

Finally, on Twitter Beltran follows the account of Yosef Ozia (Joseph Ozia), a Georgia member of the Proud Boys, a far-Right “Western Chauvinist” organization. On Facebook, Rommys Beltran listed herself as “Going” to a 2018 anti-DACA protest in Dunwoody organized by “Ozia Media”.

In Florida, the state director of Latinos for Trump is Enrique Tarrio, a Proud Boys leader.

miaminewtimes.com/news/inside-mi… via @MiamiNewTimes

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